Toronto Pearson Terminal Redevelopment

350,000 m²
terminal with 80 aircraft stands

35 million
passenger capacity, annually

Readily expandable
to accommodate growth well into the next century

Largest
airport undertaking in North America at the time

Challenges

The terminal was part of an overall $4.4-billion-capital-cost project for 10-plus years.
Project included new passenger and cargo terminals, expanded airfield infrastructure, and better, more simplified public access.
Prime consultant for decommissioning and demolition of 30 existing buildings, staging complex to enable works, designing utilities, frontage roads and bridges, adjoining taxiways, and more to support the new Terminal 1.
Carry out construction while this near-capacity airport terminal remained in operation.

Solutions

To provide one of the first airfield pavements for the A380 aircraft in North America , we created the pavement design before the aircraft's final technical data was available.
Sensitive airport and border security issues were crucial in the demolition design.
Award-winning elevated terminal roadways were built, the first to use high-performance concrete for post-tensioned frontage road structures.
Design considerations included maneuverability of a variety of aircraft types, with gates to service two narrow-body aircraft in the morning, and one large wide-body aircraft at the afternoon peak.

Highlights

Aircraft aprons consisted of 67ha (166 acres) of new pavement
First North American pavement design for the A380 aircraft
Canada’s first in-ground airport snow melting pits
Innovative construction works during winter using geogrid with geotextile fabric
Met challenging environmental sustainability targets to achieve ISO-14001 certification and be one of North America’s first to register under it.
2008 Award of Merit, Consulting Engineers of Ontario

“HMM (Hatch) has a very proactive approach and monitors the schedule activities very closely. HMM identifies schedule concerns before they arise and HMM provides mitigation solutions.[The] Pearson Development Program has been very satisfied with HMM... We have experienced many successful projects together.” [Hatch] has a very proactive approach and monitors the schedule activities very closely. [The] Pearson Development Program has been very satisfied.... We have experienced many successful projects together.”

John Iannone | Program General Manager, GTAA, Toronto Pearson International Airport

Project Numbers

Toronto Pearson International Airport is Canada’s busiest airport
Terminal 1 is a complex, three-sector terminal that coordinates international, domestic Canadian, and US transborder flights
Approximately 3.7 million ft² of terminal floor was distributed over three primary levels and an integrated ramp control tower
C$2.6 billion capital cost
98% of the old Terminal 1 building was successfully recycled after its demolition